


Lemon-Boy

by kirschhhstein



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, basically this was meant for the 'swap' prompt, ereminweekii, i guess??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1674110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirschhhstein/pseuds/kirschhhstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I think Armin’s mad at me.  He just stood up with a huff and marched across the playground to sit with Marco instead.  They both look pretty grumpy actually.  Marco’s even pouting.  I look around the playground and realise why.</p><p>Jean’s lying facedown on the ground in the blue-chalked timeout circle.  Marco must’ve drawn it and banished him there again.</p><p>I scratch the back of my head with a sigh and decide to stomp over to him.  I nudge his shoulder with my foot.  “What did you do this time?”</p><p>** based on the 'swap' prompt for ereminweekii **</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lemon-Boy

**Author's Note:**

> i am late late late and so very sorry because my contributions to ereminweekii so far have been very little

I think Armin’s mad at me. He just stood up with a huff and marched across the playground to sit with Marco instead. They both look pretty grumpy actually. Marco’s even pouting. I look around the playground and realise why.

Jean’s lying facedown on the ground in the blue-chalked timeout circle. Marco must’ve drawn it and banished him there again.

I scratch the back of my head with a sigh and decide to stomp over to him. I nudge his shoulder with my foot. “What did you do this time?”

He makes a whining sound in the back of his throat before turning his head to the side. He scowls up at me with his cheek smushed against the gravel, making his pout even more pouty.

“I didn’t do _anything_.”

“Don’t fib. You’re in the _‘Jean’s time out’_ circle. You obviously did something.”

I nudge him again and he sits up with a groan. “I was looking at Mikasa.”

“Again? You’re stupid.”

“She’s pretty though.”

“You’re still stupid.”

He sticks his tongue out at me before throwing a look over at where Armin and Marco sat with their heads bent together, no doubt concocting a plan of revenge. “Armin looks mad too. What did _you_ do?”

I’m all ready to shoot back a _“Nothing!”_ but I know there’s no use hiding it. I did do a terrible thing after all.

“I… accidentally got my gum stuck in his hair.”

“You _what?”_ Jean looks horrified, and shuffles back on his butt to get away from me. He doesn’t dare move outside the blue circle though.

“Then I cut it out with scissors when he wasn’t looking.”

I already feel pretty ashamed, and know I’ll never forgive myself for destroying one of the most beautiful and pure things on this planet. I don’t need Jean staring at me like I’m some kind of monster. Even if I am one.

“That’s way worse than me looking at Mikasa. Why aren’t _you_ in _your_ timeout circle?”

“Armin says the circle’s too good for the likes of me.” I say miserably. I drop to my knees and crawl into the circle next to Jean. I figure that I may as well punish myself if Armin isn’t going to.

Jean remains sitting, his arms crossed stubbornly as he stares over at our boyfriends talking together quietly. I copy his previous position and lie facedown, trying to reflect on what I’ve done and pretending that the hard ground doesn’t hurt my nose.

I only look up when Jean roughly shakes my shoulder and hisses “They’re coming!”

We sit upright with straight backs when Armin and Marco approach, both with very serious looks on their faces. I try not to flinch as I see the uneven length of Armin’s beautiful yellow hair.

“We’ve decided what we’re going to do.” I shrink under Armin’s stern gaze. Jean seems to suffering a similar misery as Marco turns his head away with a huff, pretending to be disinterested.

“You’re both too difficult to handle. We’ve decided to swap boyfriends for the rest of the week.”

Jean lets out a donkey-like “Hah?” as I stare at them in shock. “What does that mean?”

“It _means_ ,” Jean shrivels as Marco shoots him a glare. “That Armin and I want some peace for a while. So we’re going to be boyfriends for a bit, and you two can be boyfriends.” He points a finger at the two of us on the ground.

Jean immediately bursts into “no way”s and “anything but that”s while I look at Armin pleadingly. But I know the look on his face, and I know that it means he’s not going to budge.

“Well… maybe we could try something else.” Marco seems to waver as Jean’s rants grow louder. As annoyed as he is with Jean, I think he’d rather try to keep the peace.

“But we _agreed_.” Armin points out determinedly, not as easily swayed as the dark-haired boy. “I need some quiet for a while, and you want to make Jean jea- “

“Wait!” Marco bends down to Armin’s ear and whispers behind his hand. Jean screws his face up in concentration as he tries to hear what he’s saying. I decide to try and lipread instead until I realise that Marco’s hand covers his mouth.

“...wouldn’t that work better?”

Armin “hm”s like he’s considering it, looking between me and Jean with what I like to call the _studystare_. “It might work better for you, but I’m not sure about me.”

Marco widens his eyes and I can sense Jean melting beside me. We’ve all been subjected to the _puppystare_ at some point, Jean more than most of us. It’s one of Marco’s most effective weapons. Armin doesn’t seem to be falling for it though.

“If this doesn’t work, you have to be _both_ of their boyfriends for _two_ weeks.”

Marco seems to agree, and Jean and I wait anxiously for the verdict.

“Change of plan,” Armin announces, his hands on his hips. “Jean will be my boyfriend, and Marco will be yours, Eren.”

What?! This was even worse! I tell him so but neither my boyfriend nor Jean’s are listening. Their minds are made up, and it’s either this or sitting in the timeout circle every playtime and lunchtime until Christmas.

Before I can list the many reasons as to why this is a bad idea, Marco hoists me up and links his arm through mine. “Let’s go, _boyfriend_.” He marches us away without so much as a backwards glance at Jean who’s still yelling about the injustice of it all. He sounds a little like I would if I weren’t already so stunned.

Normally I don’t mind playing with Marco, he’s a pretty nice person after all, but this is not acceptable. Leave my boyfriend alone with my worst nemesis? I know I deserve punishment, but this is too much.

I wrench my arm away and look back to the other two. Jean’s rolling around in the sandbox while Armin perches on the edge of it with a book in hand, not paying Jean’s tantrum any mind. That’s good. It better stay like that.

Marco tugs me along again and suggests that we go climb the really big tree at the edge of the playground. Usually that’s something Marco and Jean do together; they sit up there allllllllllllllllllll playtime swinging their legs and laughing together. I think sometimes they even hold hands the way me and Armin do.

Wait!!

I whip my head back around as we reach the foot of the tree. Armin’s still reading and Jean’s still rolling. No handholding in sight.

“Eren,” Marco whispers and I jump at the sound. “It’s really okay, they’re not gonna do anything weird.”

“But it’s _Jean._ You know what he’s like. No offense.”

“I do know. And that’s why,” he bumps his hip against mine and smiles before starting to climb. “We’re gonna show him how much it sucks.”

I’m still doubtful, ‘cause it sounds more like I’m doing Marco a favour instead of making things right with my own actual boyfriend. But having a birdseye view of the sandbox doesn’t sound like a bad idea, so I clamber up after him. We sit on the same branch, but I shuffle away slightly just in case he gets any ideas.

We don’t say much, since the only thing we have in common are our boyfriends being in the sandbox and not with us. So we both stare at them until they notice us, which they don’t.

Jean gives up on being in a bad mood, and instead looks over Armin’s shoulder at the book he’s reading. He says something that we can’t hear from all the way up here, and Armin says something back. Now they’re sitting side by side and are reading together. Suddenly, sitting far away in the tree seems like a really bad idea.

I glance at Marco who seems to be thinking the same thing as his brows furrow in a frown. He gives me a questioning look and I shrug. I don’t know, and I don’t like it either.

I squint at Armin’s face as Jean says something, and almost fall out of the tree as he giggles with his hand over his mouth. Why is he laughing?! Jean isn’t that funny!

I roll my sleeves up and reach for a lower branch, but Marco grabs my arm and shakes his head. I glare at him. Doesn’t he understand what’s happening? Armin’s laugh is like, my third favourite thing ever. I won’t let anyone else pull it out of him so easily.

“You’ll make Armin even more annoyed,” Marco tells me with a serious look. “The bell’s about to ring anyway.”

I know he’s probably right, but if anything it just gets me madder. When the bell rings for the end of playtime, I climb down the tree as quickly as I can and run to line up. Of course Jean’s already at Armin’s side, but I’m glad to see that they’re both standing pretty stiffly and not talking. I guess without any books to share they’ve nothing in common. I try not to feel too smug when we file into the classroom.

I’m excited when I remember that we have art until hometime and that we’re allowed to sit anywhere we want. So I ditch my own table and creep over to Armin’s. Luckily Marco’s too busy chatting to Mikasa and ignoring Jean to notice me.

I say “Hi” and give Armin a big grin. He looks at me, his mouth forming an ‘o’, and puffs air at me before turning away. I blink as he silently pulls the paper and paintbrushes towards him and starts to paint.

So he’s gonna ignore me. Figures.

“Hey, Arm -?”

He raises a hand wordlessly and points to his hair - the exact spot where I cut out the gum. I wince and look away in shame, occupying myself with my own painting. I’m still secretly glad that Mikasa hasn’t noticed yet though. She’d hit me for sure, and it’d definitely hurt. Not as much as Armin ignoring me hurts though. So I decide to try again.

“Armin.”

He turns around again with an impatient huff. Before he can say anything, I take my brush and flick it against his nose.

I expect his mask of indifference to crack; for him to blush and giggle like he usually does. Instead I’m met with a stony expression with a green nose in the centre. I actually feel a little nervous now.

“Um… sorry.” I try. I pull my sleeve over my hand and reach over to rub it against his face. I knock the tub of paint over his paper as I do so, splattering orange all over his pretty hot air balloon picture. He grabs my hand and pushes it away before furiously scrubbing at his nose himself.

“You’re… You are… “ I think he’s struggling to think of a bad enough word. “You’re so _ignoramus_.”

He grabs his ruined painting and storms off to join Mikasa who’s wrestling with Sasha, leaving me stunned. I don’t even know what ignoramus means. It must be something really bad then. I must’ve hecked up even worse than I thought.

 

*

I don’t think I’m gonna last til the end of the week. Don’t get me wrong, Marco’s a great boyfriend. He lets me look at his finished spelling book when I get confused with my own letters (but he doesn’t whisper “this is the last time” like Armin does), he helps me up when I fall down (but he doesn’t kiss the scrapes like Armin does), and he smiles at me a lot (but it doesn’t give me the same heart-squishy feeling I get when Armin does). In fact, it makes me pretty mad that Jean doesn’t realise what he’s missing out on. Then I just get pretty mad that he’s getting what I’m missing out on.

I remember how Armin and I first met. Ages ago, when we first started this school. The first bell of the day hadn’t even rang yet when I first saw him. Being prodded at and poked by some big dude with a red face. He looked like a tomato and I told him as much. He wasn’t happy. Then I noticed Armin with his yellow hair and wide blue eyes and blurted out that he looked like a lemon. I dunno why I said it, especially when I was aware that I had fallen in love with him immediately.

I challenged Tomato-Head to a duel, telling him that he had to leave Lemon-Boy alone if he lost. Of course he had to accept; a crowd had already gathered, and he couldn’t afford to lose to someone smaller that had just called him a tomato.

We hung upside down from the monkey bars, our legs curled the metal frame and our arms swaying below our heads. Mikasa rolled her eyes, and Lemon-Boy watched from underneath the slide. Minutes passed, and the bell rang. Most people left for class, but some stayed to witness the winner so that Tomato-Head couldn’t lie about it later. Lemon-Boy stayed too.

Tomato-head’s face got redder, and I started to feel dizzy but I wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t, not if I wanted Lemon-Boy to fall for me too.

I got into so much trouble though, when Tomato-Head gave up and dropped, smacking his head against the concrete. I hadn’t even gone to my first class yet and I’d gotten detention. It was worth it though when Lemon-Boy came up to me after school and told me that my face had gone purple just before Tomato-Head dropped.

“Was I cool though? Did you fall in love with me, Lemon-Boy?”

He blinked at me. “Sure I did. Plum-Face.”

I try not to stare too much at them during playtime, but it’s hard when they’re stuck together like glue. Armin likes reading a lot, but I didn’t know Jean liked books too. They sit against the tree and read. Then they talk, which annoys me because most of the time Armin shushes me when he’s reading. Sometimes they’ll be talking really seriously which makes me wonder what on earth they’re talking about. But other times they’ll smile or laugh which makes my stomach crunch.

I finally snap when Jean lifts a hand to ruffle Armin’s hair, and storm over to confront him.

“That’s not yours to touch.”

“You’re one to talk.” Jean scowls and points at the uneven blond tresses.

Knowing that he was fully right and I had no defense, I opt for the high road. “Yeah, well you’re dumb.”

He squints his eyes at me and I hear Armin give a sigh as Marco runs up behind me mumbling all sorts of protests.

“You’re dumb ‘cause you don’t appreciate Marco like you should!” I stomp my foot to emphasise my point while smacking Marco hard on the back. “He’s great, and you know it. So stop being so dumb and looking at Mikasa all the time!”

Both Jean and Marco look pretty embarrassed while Armin just raises an eyebrow. I dunno what he’s thinking, but it’s probably along the lines of me being an idiot.

“I know he’s great,” Jean mumbles into his knees. “I never wanted to swap in the first place.”

“I thought you didn’t wanna be my boyfriend anymore… “ Marco’s voice is muffled behind his hands.

The meek mumbles go back and forth, and I decide that I don’t have time for idiotic couples that’re getting in the way of my own very grown-up relationship. I shoo them away, both of them still bright red and not looking at each other, and turn back to look down at Armin.

He doesn’t look pleased as he shuts his book with a snap.

“Well, that was rude.” He grumbles. “I guess I’ll just go find Mikas- “

“ARMIN ARLERT.”

He jumps at my loud voice and stares up at me. I plant one hand on my hip and point at him with the index finger on the other. “You are going to fall for me all over again.”

“Is that so.”

“Just you watch.”

I stalk over to the tree and bend down to place my palms and the top of my head against the ground. I kick off and swing my legs backwards so I’m performing a wobbley headstand with the tree for support.

I twist my head to the left and up to look at Armin, who has returned to his book. Fine by me. I’ll stay like this all playtime.

I’m pretty confident in the strength of my skull, since my teachers always say that I’m quite a headstrong boy. And I don’t wanna brag, but my biceps are almost as big as Mikasa’s.

The blood rushes to my head really quick though, and soon I feel my arms trembling to hold up my weight.

“Armin… any time you wanna forgive me would be great.”

“Hm,” He closes his book and rolls on to his front so that we’re face-to-upside-down-face. “I’m not sure, your face isn’t nearly plum-ish enough yet.”

I groan because my head is really starting to hurt and I don’t think I can hold out much longer. “Please… I’m really sorry about your hair. And I’m sorry for ...being noisy, and painting your nose, and… and spoiling your picture and everything else I’ve ever done to annoy you. Just… please don’t be mad at me anymore, okay? ‘Cause even if I fall over, I’m gonna get back up again and again to stand on my head until you forgive me.”

Armin hums like he’s thinking really hard before leaning forward and lightly pressing his mouth against mine. “Mm, ‘kay.”

I’m so relieved that I forget to be strong and my arms give way. I topple forward, landing on Armin’s back with an “Oof!” and smacking his chin against his skull.

He yells out an “Ouch!” before I nuzzle my head against his in apology. He grumbles some more but lets me do it, and reaches to bring his book over and starts to read it again. I’m happy enough to let him, and just thread my fingers through his hair the way he likes it. I tug lightly at the shorter chunk and smile a little. I wonder if Lemon-Boy’ll grow his hair even longer then before.


End file.
